About Dr. Bill Thomas, ChangingAging.org

Bill is a visionary leader in the online Changing Aging movement and a world-renowned authority on geriatric medicine and eldercare. Bill is founder of two movements to reshape long-term care globally – The Eden Alternative and Green House Project. He is currently traveling the country influencing culture change with the Age of Disruption Tour.

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Maybe we’re so afraid because aging is a lot like adolescence. Isn’t it? Consider it…Your body is changing in crazy ways, your mind get’s fuzzy with periods of crystal clarity and new weird thoughts, you’re moody and changeable, often get impatient and feel misunderstood. It IS very similar, isn’t it? The difference is, we have a context for puberty that says it’s ok. “Don’t worry, it will all be better soon, you’ll grow into a wonderful new you. You’ll love the future you.” The world is afraid of hoards of out-of-control seniors.
What if we could have a context for aging like for the teen years? I’m a boomer “renaissance woman”, interested in just about everything. What really get’s me excited is aging! Well, actually, the potential of aging well, far beyond what the positive aging community has set as its goal. I call it Elderlife. Here’s what I mean. Documented research has proven that our brains actually grow and increase in connections between age 55 and 70 and that being creative is one of the best things we can do to enhance this process. Gene Cohen calls creativity “Chocolate for the aging brain.” Imagine that. Doing creative activities creates good feelings, aliveness and health. It’s that simple. I developed an online Creativity Toolbox for Seniors last year to do just that, at the click of a mouse.
My concept is that aging offers an extraordinary opportunity for a new life. Who know what, en masse, we will do? Just as adolescence throws the child into a mental and physical turmoil of change, so does aging for the older adult. So what if we changed the way we think about the changes going on in us? My vision of a new context for aging would handle the fears of pain and the unknown, address the sense of loss and grief integral to change and look the concept of diminishment square in the face. There are lots of tools today that can help. If we’re relaxed and actually examine what is really happening as we age, I expect there are many good surprises. Biographies of aged artists especially demonstrate this “new life” potential. I see this as the birth of elder wisdom: the third age of human beings, a fully satisfying life of meaningful experience and contribution.